CHANGES TO DAYS AND PROGRAMS OVER THE CHRISTMAS BREAK:

ORGANIC MARKETS – A SHORT CHANGE TO SATURDAY! For several years now, the Sunday Organic Markets have not missed a single weekend, and the proud tradition continues. These are Farmers’ Markets after all. To adjust though, for the Christmas and New Year Sundays, the markets will be moved, just over 2 weekends, to the Saturday. These will now be on Saturday 24th December and Saturday 31st December, with the usual operating hours.

CHAI CAFE OVER CHRISTMAS: The team at the Chai Cafe would like to let all our valued customers know that the last day of trading at the cafe for 2011 is Sunday the 18th December. After two weeks break, we will return to normal operations on Sunday the 8th January – Susannah and Kat.

VILLAGE LIFE: When the markets are open

OFFICE OPENING: The office closes from this Thursday 15th December, until Tuesday 10th January, when your emails and phone calls will be again answered with a smile

PLANTING for PIZZAS: Our P4P Wednesday programs finishes for 2011 on Wednesday 14th December with a big Pizza cob-oven cookup (all welcome), and resumes on Wednesday 11 January.

PROGRAMS: Our Community Service, Work-For-The-Dole and other programs will also recommence on Tuesday 10th January

NURSERY: The ‘Edible Landscapes’ Nursery will open until Christmas Eve, then re-open on Tuesday 3rd January

EDUCATION COURSES IN 2012

We are taking bookings for our exciting Permaculture Design Program for next year. Booking forms available here.

• PDC #1   Thursdays 16 February – 24th May
• PDC #2   Saturdays, 21 April – 28 July
• PDC #3   Fridays 3 August – 9 November
• PDC #4   (2-week Intensive, school holidays) 10 September – 6 October

STOP PRESS!!! – EDUCATION WORKSHOPS IN 2012
We have just released details of our Sustainable Living Workshops for Feb-May 2012. There are some exciting new offerings here. Full details at  workshops 2012

2011 FARM MAGAZINE
Our annual 2011 Magazine should be emailed and posted out at the end of this week for your Summer reading pleasure. Thanks go to Glenbo and Vivienne for a huge effort here. This magazine replaces the quarterly newsletters, and only goes to financial members of our Association. If you would like to become one (and we would love you to!) please start the process here, where you will also find all the benefits of membership

SEED GARDEN LAUNCH
On Thursday 8th Dec, members of the NSCF community were joined by Councillor Hinchliffe and students from Buranda State School for the opening of the School SEED Garden. The rainy weather made it a perfect opportunity to plant a “miracle fruit” tree, just one of the many perennial fruit trees in the SEED garden. The SEED Garden will be a wonderful addition to the School Tours and Activities program that we offer at Northey St.  Big thanks to Claire Ward for driving the program, and also to Kirsty and Belinda. Thanks also to Brisbane City Council for the Cultivating Community Gardens Grant that funded the materials and resources.

OTHER RECENT EVENTS
The Farm has had some recent successful events, and we thank the organisers and participants for their contributions:

• Volunteer Brunch Thanks to Belinda and her team for organising a great day, where we were able to acknowledge (and feed!) our awesome volunteers across all farm activities. Our local member, David Hinchliffe did the honours yet again, and we thank him for his on-going support for our events and activities
• Bushdance The rain held off and didn’t stop 80+ people having a great night. Thanks to Bunya for the kitchen cob action, and to ‘Mulching Matilda’, our cut-and-paste band of volunteers who got us yeeharing and “heeling and toeing” around the village green. You rocked guys. The call went out for more next year, so stay tuned!

NEW MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
The recent AGM elected a new Management Committee for 2012. Our thanks and congratulations go to: Angus Wallace (Coordinator), Erin Young (Secretary), Amy Trotman (Assistant Coordinator), Maria Figuerola (Treasurer), and general members: Kirsty Klose, Simon Ross, Simon McVerry, Lindsay Cooper and Peter Clements. The issue of paid staff on the management committee remains unresolved, and resolution of this will be the focus of the committee in early 2012, along with the huge farm restructuring transition agenda. We wish them ail well in this pivotal role at City Farm

ALLOTMENTS
The allotments launch day was a great success. We still have some garden plots available, so contact Murray at  allotments.nscf@gmail.com or phone 0435 835 703

GRANT WRITING GROUP
We have a great bunch of 10 people looking into exploring old, current and new strategies around general grants and fundraising in the New Year. They’ll be taking over from Rossco in this area and also in developing partnerships. If you have any ideas or offers in these areas, please direct to Kirsty in the New Year, throughinfo@nscf.org.au

CHRISTMAS IDEAS AT YOUR LOCAL FRIENDLY ‘EDIBLE LANDSCAPES’ NURSERY
Left all your Christmas shopping til the last minute……   why not have fun shopping away from the crowds, while supporting your local City Farm……   Edible Landscapes has lots of great gift ideas, all in our peaceful greenspace. Come in and say hello, and take a look at:

• Permaculture Calendar $12 or Permaculture Diary $30 for 2012, published by ‘Permaculture Principles’ group
• For the little ones, a pack of seeds to get started, watering cans and children’s tools sets
• Brisbane Organic Growers (BOGI) Planting Guide – a great book for novice and experienced gardeners, only $10.00. Full of anecdotes, information and experience
• Compost, Manures, Fertilisers, all organically certified, of course
• A range of books including ‘Self Sufficiency and Survival Foods’, ‘How can I use Herbs in my Daily Life’, and ‘Sprouts’ by Isabel Shipard, from $40 to $45. Brilliant resources, highly recommended.
• Worm Farms (and Worms!) $75 for the farm + extra for our happy worms
• Gift Vouchers for all our lovely Nursery plants, tools, fertilisers and bits…
• ALROC pure rock mineral Fertiliser supplies all trace elements and minerals to your soil and plants naturally. Like a gift for your garden this summer! You’ll love the results, too
• Fruit Trees – we have a huge range in stock now, Blueberries, too
• Our own Northey Street Permaculture Cookbook, called ‘Share’, it’s beautiful and only $20.

As always the nursery needs your donations of Ice cream containers, pots and punnets, and old venetian blinds (we use them for labels).
From all of us at the Nursery, we thank you for your support over the year, and wish you a safe and happy festive season. Special thanks to our wonderful Volunteers, without whom the Nursery wouldn’t be the same, or as much fun.
Happy Gardening and Happy Holidays, from the team at Edible Landscapes. We will be operating on regular hours until Saturday 24 December, then will be closed all week, reopening Tuesday the 3rd of January.

NORTHEY STREET CITY FARM AND COMMUNITY GARDEN SHARING CIRCLE AT WOODFORD FESTIVAL
Northey Street City Farm is once again presenting permaculture workshops at the Woodford Folk Festival, along with folks from other community gardens. Details at Northey Street @ Woodford, Also, at the festival on New Year’s Day at 11am in the GREENhouse, we will be joining other Community Gardens and City Farms in a sharing circle, facilitated by the people from Veggie Village. This will be followed by joining up for lunch afterwards. If you’re up at the festival, please join in!

4,000th FRIEND ON FACEBOOK?
At last glance, we had 3,980 friends on our facebook page Hmmmm… will we make the 4,000 by Christmas? No prizes for number 4,000 but what a community group! Our facebook page also hosts some great photo albums. Thanks to Alastair, Gary and the Web – IT team here at City Farm for a great job.

PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATE (PDC) AT BELLBUNYA COMMUNITY
Northey St City Farm is excited to be running a PDC for the community of Bellbunya, near Eumundi, in late Jan / early Feb (2012). The Bellbunya community sourced funding for the PDC from the Federal Government’s Farm Ready Reimbursement Program. If any NSCF volunteers are interested in this PDC with a difference, please email the Education Coordinator, Emma Maltby, on education.nscf@gmail.com by 6th January. It could be a great opportunity to observe and learn more about permaculture being applied in the rural setting. (Note – volunteer places are limited and you would need to arrange your own transport to Bellbunya).

GIVE “SHARE – THE PERMACULTURE COOKBOOK” FOR CHRISTMAS!
It’s the best Christmas Present ever – the cookbook of Northey Street City Farm! Simply the best, most heartfelt, interesting and useful cookbook you may ever own. Written completely from the heart with sharing in mind!  Go to Share – The Permaculture Cookbook for details and a booking form. Only $20 at Edible Landscapes Nursery or through the website.

EARTH ARTS OVER THE HOLIDAYS
Bob will be running his Earth Arts activities throughout the school holidays for people of all ages, on Tuesdays, Fridays and every market day, apart from the week between Christmas and New Year.. This would be a great activity for parents to bring their kids down to. Just engage with Bob here on any of those mornings.

VILLAGE LIFE MARKETS: ENTERTAINMENT AND GREAT CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
Buy local and hand-made this year at Northey Streets’ weekly Village Life Market….every Sunday 8am – 12 noon.
V.L.M is located in the grounds of the farm, past the Chai cafe, and features a kids’ play area and shady areas with mats so you can come together, gather and relax. Our creative stall holders have a beautiful range of affordable and ethical gifts for all occasions. With the silly season ahead don’t miss out on these…

• Beautiful candles by ‘Happy Flame Beeswax Candles’
• Luscious calendula and rose oil skin care by ‘The Herbal Gardener’
• Vintage style recycled notebooks from ‘Gum Nut Hill Stationery’
• Recycled and hand made brooches from Dash Robin
• Hand-made reclaimed timber and feral goat skin drums by Claudia Ocean
• Delightfully aromatic organic coffee and olive oil soaps from ilo soaps

Final Note: DEPARTING WORKER
This week Rossco will step aside from farm activities after having a number of roles here for 9 years. For much of that time he has coordinated the events, grants, partnerships and the Operations Team, as well as having a stint volunteering at the sausage sizzle and office administration. His contributions have also included the eNews, with this edition his 72nd monthly contribution. We thank him sincerely for this huge contribution to the farm and we wish him joy in his new ventures.

MAY YOU HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON.

Operations Team,
Northey Street City Farm